9 
The late Earl of Beaconsfield, who voted on two occasions in the 
House of Lords against opening museums, etc., on Sundays, said, 
on May 5th, 1879: “Of all Divine institutions, the most Divine is 
‘* that which secures a day of rest for man. I hold it to be the most 
_ * valuable blessing ever conceded to man. It is the corner stone of 
“ civilization, and its removal might even affect the health of the 
“people. . . . . . It (the opening of museums on Sundays) 
“is a great change, and those who suppose for a moment that it 
“could be limited to the proposal of the noble Baron to open 
‘‘ museums wiil find they are mistaken.” 
Mr. Gladstone, as Prime Minister, in the House of Commons, 
said, April 18th, 1871: “From a long experience of a laborious 
* life, he had become most deeply impressed with the belief—to say 
“nothing of a higher feeling—that the alternations of rest and 
*‘labor, at the short intervals which were afforded by the merciful 
“and blessed institution of Sunday, was a necessity for the reten- 
“tion of man’s mind and of a man’s frame in a condition to dis- 
“ charge his duties ; and it was desirable, as much as possible, to 
‘restrain the exercise of labor upon the Sunday, and to secure to 
‘* the people the enjoyment of the day of rest.” 
Lord Shaftesbury, than whom few in England better under- 
stood or more fully sympathized with workingmen, in the de- 
bate in the House of Lords, February 23d, 1881, after urging 
that while the opening of museums would directly or indirectly 
increase Sunday work, and would not draw any from the saloons, 
for men who went there did not care to stroll through picture gal- 
leries or natural history museums, emphasized another point when 
he said : 
“Sunday is a day so sacred, so important, so indispensable to man, that 
it ought to be hedged round by every form of reverence. : ; . The 
working people of this country—the great bulk of the working people—regard 
it in that light. They differ, no doubt, many of them. Some take a religious 
view of the matter; others take a more political view of it; but all are of this 
mind, that the sanctity of Sunday is to them a grand protection, and you 
may hear it from their own lips repeatedly, if you consulted them, that it is 
their only protection from having to perform seven days’ work for six days’ 
wages. Itisa great thing to encourage in these men, particularly in these 
days of uncertainty and of change, a belief that they can trust in any thing 
that is now established. There is a great change coming over our population. 
The feeling of reverence is declining very fast. The last spark of reverence 
with them is the reverence for the Lord's day. Extinguish that spark, my 
lords, and you will havea generation of men in mind and in action very differ- 
ent from those who preceded them.” 
